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The Daily Mail’s MailOnline, one of the world’s most popular news sites, hits Android

With around 70m monthly readers, The Daily Mail’s website – Mail Online – is one of the world’s most popular news websites, based on inbound traffic. And now it has announced a dedicated Android app as it looks to consolidate its position in the online news space.

The app is free download and use in the UK for now, though it says it may consider introducing a charge in the future. It has been optimised for Android 2.1 onwards though it will likely work in earlier versions of too.

The Daily Mail has already released a native iOS app, and it also has a mobile-optimized website designed to work across various mobile devices. The Android app, as with the iOS app, will support offline reading, as it can pre-load content so you can access articles if you are somewhere without a 3G or WiFi connection.

Regions

Users can choose to receive news for two specific regions – the UK or US, or select the rest of the world. This will tailor the Home and Showbiz channel for your chosen region at the start of the app.

There’s a menu along the bottom edge of the screen, that lets you choose options such as Showbiz, Femail, Sport and World News. When reading an article, you simply swipe left or right to navigate through the stories, though the ‘back’ button will also let you return to the previous page.

Photos also get a big look-in on the Android App.

You tap on the little ‘camera’ icons in an article and you can see all the photos contained within, and once you’re inside the gallery you can scroll or swipe your way through the images.

Naturally, MailOnline makes it easy for you to share stories with friends, through Facebook, Twitter or email from within the app. It’s probably worth noting that the app doesn’t have user comments integrated at the moment, however it says it may introduce this feature at some point in the future.

Though the Android app will work overseas, the Daily Mail suggests the MailOnline Android app can only be downloaded within the UK, though that seems a little odd considering the app has a strong US focus in terms of regional settings.